Design studio: a vacant church building burns down in Heijplaat. An ignition of reactions, emotions and processes are the start of a posed solution for the ruins and outhouse that are left. The possible interventions on this specific site are a possibility to restore a (former) social monumentality that was present, specifically in its former social center: the Julianakerk. Heijplaat, such as many other ‘company-towns’ went through a phase of heavy (classic) de-industrialization which brought the evident unemployment. Consequences are that the obviousness of the former social structures are no more. In an area such as Heijplaat this is amplified by its small scale and lack of the resilience as the garden city is completely dependent on the ‘company’ (RDM). There are no valuable events taking place on this site anymore.

Research studio: At the moment two churches close their doors per week in the Netherlands alone. These former places of social and spatial centrality left a hole in our cities and neighborhoods. How should these be filled up? Private laws and public laws do not make it easy to make sustainable plans for such objects, which is part of the reason that 600 churches are vacant in the Netherlands at the moment.